The date of Yájnavalkya's Dharma Śástra is not definitely or satisfactorily fixed. From internal evidence, it is doubtless much subsequent to Manu.
The data for conjecturing the period of Yájnavalkya are;
1. Reference is made to Buddhist habits and doctrines, viz. the yellow garments, the baldhead, the Swabháva (B. I. sl. 271, 272, and 349).
Hence, this Dharma Śástra must have been promulgated later than B. C. 500.
2. Reference is made to a previous Yoga Śástra promulgated by Yájnavalkya (B. III, sl. 110). Now, the Yoga philosophy was first shaped into a system by Patanjali who, according to Lassen, probably flourished about 200 B. C.
3. Mention is made of coin as náṇáka (B. II, sl. 240). Now, the word nano occurs on the coins of the Indoscythian king, Kanerki, who, according to Lassen, reigned until 40 A. C.
The result, though indefinite, places the earliest date of Yájnavalkya's code towards the middle of the first century after Christ.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] See his paper Zur Geschichte der Indischen Gesetzbúcher (Contributions to the history of the Indian law-books) in Weber's Indische Studien, vol. I, pp. 232 to 246.
[7] Yájnavalkya, ch. I, sl. 3 to 5.